By
Angela Connor-Morris, Program Director, Service
and Outreach
The
Camden Campaign for Children's Literacy is pleased
to announce The Abbott Pre-School Outreach Initiative.
The Abbott Pre-School Outreach Initiative has three
primary goals: 1) to work with key agencies in Camden
to get the word out to families regarding the benefit
of the Abbott pre-school decision; 2) to assist
key agencies with the registration process; and
3) to assist childcare staff with training and certification
in order to meet Abbott standards.
The
Abbott Mandate is a Supreme Court decision that
ordered that education funding in the poorer urban
and rural districts be assured at the same level
of funding as the property-rich districts. The Supreme
Court ruled that the funding could not be dependent
on the ability of local school districts to tax,
but that instead funding must be guaranteed by the
state. The decision also ordered that the level
of funding must also provide for the special education
needs of the poorer urban and rural districts to
redress disadvantages.
The
Abbott Decision promises resources for children
in high-need communities starting at pre-school
through the high school level. Smaller class sizes,
technical support, teacher training, better equipment,
and a myriad of resources are available to districts
to ensure equitable education of Abbott District
children. However, there are a variety of factors
preventing the successful implementation of the
Abbott Mandate within eligible districts, including
Camden. The RUCCCS Camden Campaign for Children's
Literacy has created the Abbott Pre-School Outreach
Initiative to help address these issues.
Angela
Connor-Morris, Program Director, has assembled key
leaders to participate in the planning group for
the Abbott Pre-School Outreach Initiative. We are
pleased to announce the following members of the
planning group: Yvette Benton, Director of Head
Start Camden; Carol Dann, Director of the Camden
Neighborhood Renaissance; Reggie Dorsey, Association
for Children in New Jersey; Wilma Farmer, Camden
City Board of Education; Dr. Stella Horton, Director
of the Juvenile Resource Center; , Dr. Larrone Jackson,
Cooper Community Services; Tom Jones, Director of
the Urban Community Development Center; Foday Kamara,
Director of the Camden City Department of Health
and Human Services; Albert N. Mitchell, Executive
Director of the NJ Minority Educational Development
Center; Wilbur and Gloria Mitchell, Directors of
Respond, Inc.; Cindy Rice, Association for Children
in New Jersey; and Zalika Shawnee, Director of Healthy
Mothers/Healthy Babies.
We
are grateful to these individuals for their dedication
to the children of Camden and for making time in
their extremely busy schedules. We firmly believe
that without the input and guidance of these individuals,
a successful initiative could not be planned.
The
first Abbott Pre-School Outreach Initiative meeting
took place on April 18th at 3 p.m. at the Rutgers
University-Camden Campus, Student Campus Center.
If you are interested in joining our planning group,
please email Angela
Connor-Morris or call her at 856-225-6741.
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